{"id":164826,"date":"2025-09-27T23:49:03","date_gmt":"2025-09-27T23:49:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/164826\/"},"modified":"2025-09-27T23:49:03","modified_gmt":"2025-09-27T23:49:03","slug":"strictly-come-dancing-england-footballer-karen-carneys-journey-from-the-pitch-to-the-dance-floor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/164826\/","title":{"rendered":"Strictly Come Dancing: England footballer Karen Carney\u2019s journey from the pitch to the dance floor"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"IndependentCulture\"<\/p>\n

Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture emailGet the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter <\/p>\n

\"IndependentCulture\"<\/p>\n

Professional sportswoman and pundit Karen Carney<\/a> follows in the footsteps of many footballers before her as a contestant on this year\u2019s Strictly Come Dancing<\/a> series. <\/p>\n

The 38-year-old former England player and ITV\u2019s lead female sports presenter was announced to be taking part in the show this August, describing her booking as \u201ca dream come true\u201d.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cI\u2019m such a huge fan of the show and I can\u2019t believe I\u2019m finally getting the chance to take part. I\u2019m so excited to meet everyone and get dancing!\u201d <\/p>\n

Carney has played for Chelsea, Arsenal, Birmingham City and the Lionesses. She is England\u2019s third most-capped player of all time, with 144 caps. <\/p>\n

She competed at four World Cups, four European Championships and the 2012 London Olympics before retiring in 2019. She was awarded an MBE in 2017 and OBE in 2024 for services to association football.<\/p>\n

Carney, nicknamed \u201cthe wizard\u201d for her skilful wing play, grew up in Birmingham and was inducted into Birmingham City\u2019s Hall of Fame in 2015, with an English Football Hall of Fame nod following in 2021. <\/p>\n

The footballer said of her upbringing in 2019: \u201cI\u2019m from Birmingham: my mum works at Sainsbury\u2019s, my dad is a fire-fighter. We keep it real. We know who we are. I don\u2019t need a Bentley; I don\u2019t need a Rolex.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"Carney<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Carney playing for England against New Zealand in the London 2012 Olympic Games (Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Carney started her football career when she joined Birmingham City Ladies, aged 11. She made her first-team debut for the club in the FA Women\u2019s Premier League National Division three years later. <\/p>\n

In both 2005 and 2006, she was awarded the FA National Young Player of the Year Award. <\/p>\n

That same year, Carney made her England debut, and went on to win 143 caps and score 32 goals. \u201cTo have played for England was my ultimate ambition and to do so at four World Cups and represent Team GB at a home Olympics was beyond the wildest dreams I had when first starting out,\u201d she later reflected on her international career. <\/p>\n

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Carney joined Arsenal in 2006 and won four major honours that season: the FA Women\u2019s Premier League, the FA Women\u2019s Cup, the FA Women\u2019s Premier League Cup, and the UEFA Women\u2019s Cup. <\/p>\n

\"Carney<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Carney playing for Chelsea in 2018 (Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Three years later, after a new professional league was announced in the States, Carney was selected to play for the Chicago Red Stars on a two-year contract before making a return to Birmingham City in 2011 and moving to Chelsea four years after that. <\/p>\n

She was named the club\u2019s player of the year during the 2016 Women\u2019s Super League, with Chelsea winning the WSL for three out of five years she was at the club. <\/p>\n

In 2018, after her ninth-minute penalty saw Chelsea win the Women\u2019s Champions League over Fiorentina, Carney was the subject of sexist abuse and death threats by an Instagram user. <\/p>\n

Although Carney declined to press charges, the England\u2019s Football Association called for police involvement. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis kind of abuse is abhorrent, totally unacceptable and very upsetting,\u201d Carney said of the \u201cvile messages\u201d aimed at her and her teammates at the time. She retired following that season. <\/p>\n

\"Carney<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Carney presenting for BT Sport in 2021 (The FA via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\u201cI am incredibly proud to have achieved so much in the game,\u201d the player said at the time of the announcement of her exit from club and international football in 2019. <\/p>\n

She added: \u201cThe thing I’ll miss most is singing the [national] anthem, but also kicking a ball. But now is definitely the right time to retire. I don’t think I have any more in the tank. <\/p>\n

\u201cI’ve given my heart and soul to club and country, there’s nothing more I can physically or mentally give. I have no regrets.\u201d <\/p>\n

Since retiring, Carney has become the lead female pundit for both men\u2019s and women\u2019s football across ITV and TNT. <\/p>\n

Alongside her on-screen career, Carney writes columns for The Guardian and BBC Sport and co-hosts the Long Story Short podcast alongside her fellow former Lioness, Jill Scott. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture emailGet the latest entertainment news…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":164827,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[96,391,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-164826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-tv","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164826"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164826\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/164827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}